Evidence on Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour in India and Bangladesh Scoping Paper Summaries Evidence on Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour in India and Bangladesh The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNICEF. Any part of this publication may be freely reproduced if accompanied by the following citation: Evidence on Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour in India and Bangladesh. Scoping Paper Summaries. UNICEF Innocenti, Florence, Italy. Correspondence should be addressed to: [email protected]. Cover image: UNICEF/UNI88088/Crouch © 2021 Evidence on Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour in India and Bangladesh Introduction trends in child work, schooling, and their intersections in India and Bangladesh. The ILO estimates that India and Bangladesh are Samantroy is Fellow (Faculty) at the VV Giri home to the majority of child labourers in South National Labour Institute, where she coordinates Asia. A new research initiative led by the UNICEF the Research Centre for Gender and Labour. Office of Research - Innocenti, ‘Evidence on With more than 15 years of professional Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour experience in teaching, training and research in in South Asia’, aims to identify effective sociology with focus on gender statistics and educational strategies to address child labour in child labour, she counts several projects both these two countries. Funded by the Foreign, with international organizations (UNICEF, World Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Bank, the ILO, ITC-ILO, Turin) and at the institute. this research, is part of the broader FCDO ‘Asia She has a Doctorate in Sociology from the Regional Child Labour Programme’, which will Centre for Study of Social Systems, School of run through 2023. Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, To kick-start the project, an inception workshop New Delhi. Some of the major studies that she was held in New Delhi in November 2019, in has undertaken include: ‘State of Child Workers order to explore current evidence and inform in India: Mapping Trends’ (VV Giri and UNICEF, future direction for research on educational 2017), ‘Prospects of Youth Employment in strategies with the potential for reducing child Agriculture: Issues and Challenges’ (2018), labour in India and Bangladesh. ‘Unpaid Work and Time Use Patterns of Women Workers in North East India: Special reference to Papers submitted by workshop presenters Tripura’ (2018). Presently, she is engaged in an addressed a variety of topics related to the child evaluation of the National Child Labour Project labour and education landscape in both Scheme (2020) commissioned by the Ministry of countries. Taken together, these pieces represent Labour and Employment, Government of India. a valuable contribution to take stock of the knowledge base on child labour and education AKM Masud Ali reviews recent child labour patterns, as well as on educational strategies trends in Bangladesh, with a focus on the worst with the potential to address child labour in India forms of child labour, including discussion of the and Bangladesh. The papers also represent an legal and policy framework. Masud Ali is important starting point for practitioners and Executive Director of the Integrated Community researchers looking to identify knowledge gaps and Industrial Development Initiative (INCIDIN and future research opportunities, on this topic. Bangladesh). The organization engages in While specific to India and Bangladesh, the advocacy and research using innovative and papers can provide useful linkages to the unconventional approaches to address complex broader South Asian or global contexts. issues in the area of child labour, including some of the worst forms of child labour. For instance, The following Compendium presents a curated INCIDIN undertook Participatory Action Research selection of these workshop papers, updated to with Dhaka’s street-connected children subject to include the potential implications of COVID-19 sexual exploitation, as well as with migrant for schooling and child labour. children. Masud Ali is also co-chair of the Each paper has been summarised as a brief, with Counter Trafficking in Persons Technical full text available in an accompanying paper Working Group established under the collection: Bangladesh United Nations Network on Ellina Samantroy provides an overview of the Migration, to support the Government of most recent national data on prevalence and Bangladesh in implementing the Global Compact 1 Evidence on Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour in India and Bangladesh for Migration and other priority initiatives in the Egypt, India, Nepal, Uganda, and Vietnam. Amin migration area. Some of the major studies that has served in advisory capacity to NGOs and he has undertaken include: ‘Treading along a international organizations, such as BRAC Treacherous Trail: Research on Trafficking in Uganda, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World Bank. Persons in South Asia’ (2005), ‘The boys and the She is a member of BRAC-USA’s advisory board, bullies: a situational analysis report on the Population Association of America (PAA) and prostitution of boys in Bangladesh’ (2006). the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP). She holds a master’s in Davuluri Venkateswarlu reviews the evidence on public affairs and a PhD in sociology and worst forms of child labour, such as slavery and demography from Princeton University. Some of trafficking, with a focus on rural India. her recent research includes ‘The effects of Venkateswarlu is Director of Glocal Research in adolescent childbearing on literacy and India and member of the Advisory Board of numeracy in Bangladesh, Malawi, and Zambia’ Human Resources Without Borders (RHSF), a (2019), ‘Skills-building programs to reduce child non-governmental organization (NGO) active in marriage in Bangladesh: a randomized piloting solutions to prevent child labour, forced controlled trial’ (2018), ‘Support for gender labour and indecent work in supply chains. Since stereotypes: does madrasah education matter?’ more than two decades, Venkateswarlu is (2019). working on the areas of child labour and minimum wages, including as General Secretary Renu Singh presented the current evidence on of the Enabling Child and Human Rights with the interlinkages between child work, schooling Seed Organisations (ECHO), a forum of and marriage in India. Singh is Country Director representatives from the Indian seed industry of Young Lives India, where she leads research and NGOs to protect human rights in this on early childhood development, gender, equity industry. Some of the recent reports of Davuluri and inclusion. She has over twenty-six years of and Glocal Research include: ‘The Dark Sites of teaching experience in general and special Granite. Modern slavery, child labour and unsafe education, teacher education, early childhood work in Indian granite quarries. What should development, both in India and abroad. Before companies do?’ (2017), ‘Sowing Hope: Child joining Young Lives, she was Director of the labour and non-payment of minimum wages in School of Rehabilitation Sciences at the hybrid cottonseed and vegetable seed University of Delhi and Director of Save the production’ (2020). Children India. She is a governing body member of the Central Board of Secondary Education Sajeda Amin scoped conceptual perspectives (CBSE), as well as a member of the Working and empirical evidence on the linkages between Group for formulating the National Policy on child labour, schooling, and marriage in Early Childhood Care & Education, the Joint Bangladesh. Amin is Senior Associate at the Review Missions, Ministry of Human Resource Population Council, where she leads research on Development (MHRD), and of Expert Committees empowerment programmes for girls and in Government Institutions, such as the women. She is a senior sociologist and Rehabilitation Council of India. Some of her demographer, with expertise in micro-finance, major research and policy work include financial literacy, prevention of child marriage, ‘Comparison of the effects of government and girls’ and women’s work and time-use, and the private preschool education on the provision of incentives for education. Before developmental outcomes of children: Evidence joining the Population Council, Amin was a from young lives India’ (2017), ‘“Whatever she research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of may study, she can’t escape from washing Development Studies, working on Bangladesh, 2 Evidence on Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour in India and Bangladesh dishes”’: gender inequity in secondary in many states of India including Karnataka, education–evidence from a longitudinal study in Kerala, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and India’ (2018), ‘COVID-19 could reverse 20 years of Odisha. Before joining CBPS, Jha worked as an progress: emerging policy recommendations for advisor of Education at the Commonwealth young people in developing countries’ (2021). Secretariat, London, for five years. She has actively worked with educational policy planners, Jyotsna Jha presents the evidence on how administrators, teachers and professionals at educational strategies, including vocational various levels both nationally and training and broader skills development, can internationally. She has a PhD in Economics address child labour and equip youth with the from Jawaharlal